export terminalshttp://desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/10443/all
enFisherman Fighting Dominion Cove Point LNG Export Terminal Worried About Explosions, Long-Term Impactshttp://desmogblog.com/2014/02/04/fisherman-fighting-dominion-cove-point-lng-terminal-worried-about-explosions-long-term-impacts
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Pete%20Ide.JPG?itok=VIxaIdqh" width="200" height="267" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Pete Ide probably isn’t the first person you’d expect to oppose the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominion_Cove_Point_LNG">Dominion Cove Point liquefied natural gas (<span class="caps">LNG</span>) terminal</a>. </p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>First of all, I have to be frank,” he says. “I depend on fossil fuels to make a living.” A charter boat captain on the Chesapeake Bay, Ide has fished his entire life. As such, he’s seen the decline in water quality and marine life in the Chesapeake firsthand.</p>
<p><span class="dquo">“</span>The water quality has been so bad these past two years, I had to move my boat because there weren’t any fish here,” he says. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_(ecology)">dead zones</a> get larger every year as algae blooms exacerbated by runoff from farm fertilizer, industrial livestock and poultry production eat up the oxygen marine life needs to survive.</p>
<p>Though the Dominion Cove Point <span class="caps">LNG</span> terminal won’t be dumping fertilizer, Ide says it will just be one more step in the degradation. “It’s not going to put me out of business,” he says, “but it's another brick in the wall. It's 49 more acres of heavy industrial build-out on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay.”</p>
<p>Through seafood production and tourism, the Chesapeake Bay supports more than <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2013/05/06/chesapeake-lng-export-terminal-opposition-concerned-ecology/">a trillion dollars of economic activity</a>. The Calvert County shore in Maryland, where Dominion Energy plans to build the liquefaction facility, is home to wetlands and rare species of plants and animals, including migratory birds. Construction would require clearing forests and bringing in heavy construction materials on the Patuxent River.</p>
<p>Dominion Energy’s plans require constructing an on-site 130 megawatt power plant, storage units and a liquefaction facility. Upstream, pipelines, pier adjustments and compressor stations will need to be constructed or adapted for shipping natural gas.<br /><br />
When constructed, the facility will be the fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter in Maryland, and it won’t just be pumping out greenhouse gases. Nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particulates are all <a href="http://www.c2es.org/energy/source/natural-gas">byproducts of natural gas usage</a> and are air pollutants <a href="http://www.epa.gov/air/urbanair/">regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency</a> under the Clean Air Act. The World Health Organization <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/health/geneva-air-pollution-carcinogenic-who/">recognized the negative health effects of air pollution, such as cancer</a>, earlier this year.</p>
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<p>Needless to say, Ide is not just concerned about his livelihood.<br /><br />
“I think this is going to have a serious and profound impact on our quality of life here in Calvert County, certainly during the construction phase…when the construction phase is finished, the effects will be much more insidious and not as noticeable – unless you happen to live right in the area of the facility,” he says.<br /><br />
“That’s who I feel like I am fighting for more than anything at this point…I think this is a classic case of big fossil fuel business coming in and making backdoor deals with local businesspeople and politicians.”</p>
<p><img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/pete%20ide.jpg" style="font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em; width: 560px; height: 375px;" /><br /><span style="font-size:10px;"><em>Pete Ide speaks out against the Dominion <span class="caps">LNG</span> export plan. </em></span><br /><br />
In October 2013, a statewide poll commissioned by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network found <a href="http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/file-uploads/kelly-trout/Gonzales-Poll-Report-Cove-Point-EIS-2013.pdf">that 81 percent of Marylanders believed a full environmental impact statement should be conducted for the proposed Cove Point expansion</a>. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission <a href="http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/search/advResults.asp">has not indicated</a> any plans to conduct a full environmental impact statement and, according to environmental groups, the commission looks likely to use a less comprehensive environmental assessment.<br /><br />
The commission is not required to conduct an environmental impact statement for minor modifications, but environmental groups say Dominion Energy’s assertion that the project is minor is “<a href="http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/file-uploads/kelly-trout/Cove-Point-EIS-letter-Governor-OMalley-FINAL.pdf">misguided and absurd</a>.”</p>
<p>In an October letter to Maryland state Governor Martin O’Malley, 122 local, state and national groups urged the governor to <a href="http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/index.php?option=com_k2&amp;view=item&amp;id=3726:stop-fracked-gas-exports-at-cove-point&amp;Itemid=18#sthash.GAMmztdi.dpuf">demand a full federal environmental impact assessment</a> on the liquefaction expansion project.</p>
<p>Ide says regulators have only taken short-term economic concerns into consideration rather than the long-term impacts the facility will have on environmental quality and safety. There are restrictions in place to make sure construction is done safely along the shore, but Calvert County is considering <a href="http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/33372">exempting Dominion from local zoning regulations</a>.</p>
<p>As someone observing the traffic on the Bay, Ide also worries about the potential for a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_liquid_expanding_vapor_explosion"><span class="caps">BLEVE</span>, an acronym for a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion.</a> These explosions occur when a vessel holding a liquid pressurized above its boiling point suddenly ruptures. (The<a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/crude-that-exploded-in-lac-megantic-was-mislabelled-regulator-says/article14239877/"> Quebec train disaster </a>that killed 47 people in July is one example.)</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/oil-train-crash-risks_n_4652711.html?utm_hp_ref=green">National Transportation Safety Board recently warned</a> that a “major loss of life” could result from the increasing use of trains to carry crude oil.</p>
<p>The potential for explosions at <span class="caps">LNG</span> facilities and ships is still debated, although everyone agrees the risk is low. Still, Ide says, the risk is more than zero, and it increases with every extra gallon of liquefied natural gas and every extra tanker travelling through the Patuxent River and the Bay. Dominion Energy says it is <a href="http://www.co.cal.md.us/index.aspx?nid=335">committed to safety</a> and has worked with Calvert County <a href="http://www.co.cal.md.us/index.aspx?nid=335">to institute emergency plans</a>.</p>
<p>Then again, the risk of the Quebec train explosion and <span class="caps">BP</span>’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill were also considered minimal.<br /><br />
“We don’t have to try to scare people,” Ide says, “but on that note, I feel like our security is definitely threatened by that plant being there.”<br /><br /><img alt="" src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Screen%20Shot%202014-01-30%20at%205.22.44%20PM.png" style="width: 560px; height: 431px;" /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:10px;"><em>Image credits: <a href="http://www.captpete.net/">CaptPete.net</a> and Chesapeake Climate Action Network</em></span></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/15151">Pete Ide</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7551">Dominion Cove LNG</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10443">export terminals</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8786">Cove Point</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7751">Maryland</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7487">dominion energy</a></div></div></div>Tue, 04 Feb 2014 13:00:00 +0000Caroline Selle7795 at http://desmogblog.comNorthwest Tribes Speak Out Against Coal Export Terminalshttp://desmogblog.com/2012/10/12/northwest-tribes-speak-out-against-coal-export-terminals
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/critfc_logo.jpg?itok=9bX8a0ne" width="190" height="190" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>A quick update on the <a href="http://desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/10252">coal train exports front</a> (which I’m henceforth going to start calling the Asian Coal Express, unless anyone else has any better suggestions. Leave 'em in the comments!) </p>
<p>The <em>New York Times</em> ran a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/us/tribes-add-powerful-voice-against-northwest-coal-plan.html?pagewanted=all">must-read piece</a> for anyone concerned about coal companies targeting American taxpayer-owned public lands, carting it by rail over to coastal ports throughout the Pacific Northwest, loading it onto barges and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamax">Panamax vessels</a>, and then shipping it overseas to sell at a steep discount to Asian markets.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/us/tribes-add-powerful-voice-against-northwest-coal-plan.html?pagewanted=all">article</a> looks at the battle over the Northwest export terminals through the lens of the local American Indian tribes, who worry about the impacts on local fishing rights and the threats to sacred sites.</p>
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<p>(As an aside, the article also has an utterly beautiful lede sentence, which just tickled the writer in me: “At age 94, Mary Helen Cagey, an elder of the Lummi Indian tribe, has seen a lot of yesterdays.” That there should be reason enough for you to click through and read the whole piece!)</p>
<p>The Pacific Northwest tribes have formed a unified front that may well prove to be the strongest forces of opposition to the coal export terminals.</p>
<p>The tribes’ chief concern is the impact of coal dust along the rail routes, at the terminals, and in the rivers, as the barges float through crucial fishing areas that have been used for centuries, and protected by an array of treaties and rights for decades.</p>
<p>Fifty-seven tribes, speaking through the regional congress, the <a href="http://www.atnitribes.org/">Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians</a>, are demanding a full environmental impact analysis that would involve all six of the currently proposed export terminals. As <a href="http://desmogblog.com/2012/10/10/white-house-holds-meeting-address-coal-export-terminals">DeSmog reported last week</a>, the environmental assessments and approval are currently limited to a case-by-case basis, and the Army Corps of Engineers is taking a very limited scope of the impacts immediately at the sites of the terminals themselves, but nothing up-rail, or down-river.</p>
<p>Brooklyn Baptiste of the Nez Perce Tribe doesn’t believe that this limited environmental assessment is nearly enough. “We deserve the maximum attention and expect the lead and coordinating agencies to provide the full environmental studies on all ports, as they will be making one of the largest decisions impacting human health, the environment and economies of not only our tribal communities, but of our neighboring citizens of the Northwest.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.critfc.org/text/press/20120927.html">In a public statement</a>, the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, a fishing-focused group affiliated with the regional congress, make some equally compelling arguments. Two in particular stand out.</p>
<p>Paul Lumley, Executive Director of the commission, explains the geographical context: “Along the Columbia River it’s cliff, highway, railroad, then river. Our communities are wedged between the railroad and the river. We’ve got nowhere to escape. If we cannot escape, neither will the coal.”</p>
<p>Then you have Brian Cladoosby of the Swinomish Tribe echoing those sentiments. “We believe the Northwest is interconnected through the families, resources and waterways, that these coal terminals and railway routes should be addressed in a holistic manner,” said Cladoosby. “If a coal train or tanker were to spill on the route or in the river at Port Morrow in Oregon, the water ways will carry the pollution throughout the Northwest, and coal dust will be carried through the mountains in the air we all breath.”</p>
<p>Spills, crashes and any other inevitable disasters aside, even the status quo process of transporting all this coal on rail and then barge has the very serious potential to pollute. Coal dust is notoriously hard to contain, and communities along both the rail and barge routes could expect their air and water to fall victim to that pollution. </p>
<p>Surely, any legitimate environmental assessment has to consider those operational impacts, and not just the dredging and construction of the terminals themselves. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10252">coal trains</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8956">coal train</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8242">Rail</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/662">coal</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10443">export terminals</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10453">american indians</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10454">indians</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10455">tribes</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2684">fishing</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8960">Columbia River</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8965">pacific northwest</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10456">Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission</a></div></div></div>Thu, 18 Oct 2012 01:00:00 +0000Ben Jervey6575 at http://desmogblog.comWhite House Holds Meeting to Address Coal Export Terminalshttp://desmogblog.com/2012/10/10/white-house-holds-meeting-address-coal-export-terminals
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Gateway_coal_terminal_Cherry_Point_fit_300x300.jpg?itok=ZxtUFWt-" width="200" height="164" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>It was barely two weeks ago that we reported on the <a href="http://desmogblog.com/2012/09/20/army-corps-fast-tracks-port-morrow-coal-export-terminal">Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to “fast track” approval of the Morrow Pacific Project</a>, a coal export terminal on the Columbia River that would move over 8 million tons of coal from rail to barge every year.</p>
<p>This <a href="http://morrowpacific.com/">Morrow Pacific Project</a> is one of a handful of proposed export terminals that the industry hopes to build to help link coal from the strip mines of the Powder River Basin to overseas markets. As American demand for coal falls, companies (many foreign owned) are scrambling to access the growing Asian markets.</p>
<p>At issue with the export terminals is the process of review and approval, specifically with regard to the environmental impacts. As we wrote about the Morrow Pacific Project, the Army Corps has, at present, the final word in determining whether or not a terminal can be built. This is due primarily to the “dredge and fill” rules established in section 404 of the Clean Water Act, and the origin of Army Corps decisionmaking harkens all the way back to the <a href="http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/RIV1899.HTML">Rivers and Harbons Appropriation Act of 1899</a>.</p>
<p>Here’s the problem: in determining whether or not to approve a new facility such as a coal transfer terminal, the Army Corps is only compelled legally to look at the immediate environmental impacts at the site itself. These site-specific reviews wouldn’t take into account any broader of cumulative impacts, like, say, the impacts of coal dust along the route of the rail or barge traffic, nor the even broader and inevitable impacts of the coal’s combustion on mercury pollution and global climate disruption.</p>
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<p>Many – including local environmental and community groups, Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, and the <span class="caps">U.S.</span> Environmental Protection Agency (<span class="caps">EPA</span>) – have called for just this sort of broader review that would look at all public health and environmental impacts.<br /><br />
Back in April, the <a href="http://desmogblog.com/coal-train-boardman-epa-warns-significant-public-health-threats-northwest-coal-export-proposal"><span class="caps">E.P.A.</span> issued an eye-opening public comment</a> that warned of “significant impacts to public health,” as well as the “cumulatively significant impacts” of climate change and the drift of particulates, mercury, and ozone from Asia to the United States. The agency called for a full, programmatic Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy Act (<span class="caps">NEPA</span>).</p>
<p>Apparently, this inter-agency rift raises some concern in the White House. According to this <a href="http://www.bna.com/white-house-intervenes-n17179870041/">deeply-reported article by Bloomberg <span class="caps">BNA</span></a>, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (<span class="caps">CEQ</span>) convened a meeting in August to address the approval process.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.bna.com/white-house-intervenes-n17179870041/">Bloomberg <span class="caps">BNA</span> reporter Paul Shukovsky</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The <span class="caps">CEQ</span> email convening the Aug. 10 meeting was written by Horst Greczmiel, the <span class="caps">CEQ</span>'s associate director for <span class="caps">NEPA</span> oversight. It makes no mention of whether the apparent policy differences between the <span class="caps">EPA</span> and the corps would be addressed. But the email does call for a discussion of issues surrounding one of the proposed projects as an example of how the administration would proceed “as we move forward with additional [permit] applications, lease sales, mining operations, and potential rail improvements.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At this point, it’s impossible to tell what role, if any, other agencies like the <span class="caps">E.P.A.</span> or state-level environmental offices will have in the ultimate determinations on the coal export terminals. On its end, an Army Corps spokesperson told Bloomberg <span class="caps">BNA</span> that “the corps is still considering whether to conduct an area-wide side <span class="caps">EIS</span> to look at the collective cumulative impacts of all the projects.”</p>
<p>On a project-by-project basis, however, it seems as if local demand, directed at statewide agencies and the Army Corps, can help force a broader environmental review.<br /><br />
The <a href="http://www.eisgatewaypacificwa.gov/">Gateway Pacific Project</a>, for instance, has just entered its public review process. There, the Army Corps, the Washington Department of Ecology, and Whatcom County are together preparing an <span class="caps">EIS</span> for that specific project. The<a href="http://www.eisgatewaypacificwa.gov/get-involved/upcoming-meetings"> first public hearing on the Gateway Pacific will be on October 27 in Bellingham, Washington</a>.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10252">coal trains</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10442">train</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10443">export terminals</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/9038">port of morrow</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10250">morrow pacific project</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10444">gateway pacific</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/948">washington</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/958">Oregon</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/8672">NEPA</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7769">army corp of engineers</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5585">mercury emissions</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/10444">gateway pacific</a></div></div></div>Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:24:06 +0000Ben Jervey6571 at http://desmogblog.com